Special Prosecutions Services

Merchants in the County of San Luis Obispo lose thousands of dollars each year due to bad checks and fraud. When businesses are forced to raise prices to cover these losses, consumers bear the cost of this criminal activity.

The District Attorney’s Bad Check Program is the primary investigative unit for all checks passed on insufficient funds and closed accounts in the County. Our program has several objectives.

The first and most important objective is to collect restitution for the victims of bad checks. A second objective is to save valuable police time and centralize bad check information. Our third objective is to educate the bad check writers through our diversion program.

The District Attorney will prosecute bad check writers who do not comply with the diversion program if the victim has followed proper procedure when accepting checks for goods or services.

Since its creation in 1989, the Bad Check Program has recovered over $11 million in restitution and fees.

The Small Claims Court Advisory in San Luis Obispo County is part of the District Attorney’s Office’ Economic Crimes Unit. The advisor assists parties involved in small claims matters at no cost, showing how to complete small claims forms, answering procedural questions, and identifying resources and publications.

The advisor is not an attorney and cannot provide you with legal advice about your claim. The advisor may only discuss issues relating to small claims court, and not other types of issues such as evictions. The advisor may be offering advice to both plaintiff and defendant on the same small claims court matter.